“American and European officials embraced a hopeful new buzz phrase — the “green shoots” of recovery.”

My wife immediately noticed the exact parallel to the classic 1979 movie “Being There.” A mentally-challenged gardener played by Sellers winds up by accident in Washington elite circles and is quickly embraced as a sage as he mumbles gardening platitudes about spring-time growth, at a time when the economy is in recession. By the end of the movie, he is being mentioned as a presidential candidate.